Natural Health Blog

This comes up a lot for me.

It's a funny sounding, semi-longish word with a mysterious feel to it. Let me demystify it for you!

Naturopathy is an all encompassing term for all drug-less, non-invasive natural tools for healing. It includes the use of medicinal plants, homeopathic remedies, many types of bodywork and energy work, color therapy, sound therapy, reflexology, emotional clearing work such as EFT (emotional freedom technique), essential oils, flower essences, acupuncture and chiropractic. It also includes the cleansing of the body through detoxification or pollutants and environmental poisons, the use of correct physical activities for your specific body type, and true Naturopathy ALWAYS involves observation of the eyes, face, skin, hair, nails, tongue, feet and more, showing us outward signs of inward problems.

Just like when you have a fever; you sweat, get hot, or chilled on the outside. Pretty easy to grasp this common concept. However, this simple clue to infection is only ONE WAY (of likely hundreds) that the body tells us what is happening with our interior terrain. It's pretty darn amazing! A skilled Naturopath learns to read the signs, to see with Naturopathic eyes.

Not all naturopaths are the same, however. Some are even trained to use pharmaceutical drugs, to do minor surgeries and they may use invasive diagnostic techniques. I am an Orthodox Naturopathic Doctor, one that adheres to the classic principles of Naturopathy which states to "first, do no harm", to use no tools, remedies, or techniques that can move the body away from it's innate ability to heal. We Naturopaths believe in the bodies ability to heal itself under the right conditions and an Orthodox Naturopathic Doctor is very simply put, a teacher. The term doctor itself comes from the latin word docere, which means "to teach" or "to instruct". The Naturopath is not a healer, but a facilitator to what the body instinctively knows how to do.

Naturopathy is as old as human kind. As soon as humans were human, they were learning what plants hurt or helped, what made illness better or worse in the realm of nature. And that is what naturopathy is. The tools of mother nature, being used for good in humanity.

Natural dog treats are not cheap.

I can buy a $12 bag of natural dog treats and Buckley, my Australian Shepherd Poodle mix will blow through those in like 4 days. When you're trying to train your dog you need treats, and A LOT of them. The solution? Homemade dog treats that are natural and that don't break the doggy bank.

The verdict on this recipe? Fantastic!

It is hands down the treat that he is most excited about of all the treats I've purchased. This is massively important if you want to get and keep your doggy's attention when your training. Here's what you need:

1 Can Organic Pumpkin (no sugar obviously!)

2 Cups Coconut Fluor

3-4 tbsp of Almond Butter

3 Pastured eggs or organically raised if that's what you have

1 Healthy drizzle of olive oil

2 tbsp maple syrup (for fun)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast (nutritional, keeps flees away!)

A generous dash of cinnamon

Small sprinkle of celtic sea salt

Mix everything together. It will be pretty thick

Grease the pan with a little olive oil and plop the dough down using a rolling pin or your hands to flatten it out on the cookie sheet to about 1/2 and inch to 3/4 inch thick.

Then bake at 350º for 40 minutes. It will smell lovely like a cookie and have a cracked top. It's easy to take a hard spatula and shovel out large sheets of doggy biscuit. I cooled them on a cookie rack and then put some in a small container to have available to use and the rest in the freezer.

This blog post is as simple as the poetic title that you just read. If you take zinc, your feet and your armpits will NOT stink. If stinky armpits are a problem for you, or if stinky feet have plagued your world for what seems like an eternity; go ahead, take some zinc!

It used to be that I could never wear a shirt two days in a row without washing it. Now I can. For my entire adult life, I would have to apply my all natural deodorant (and even the clinical strength stuff) at least 2-5 times a day just to keep my funkiness at bay. I would have to wash and rewash my shirts, sometimes using not-so-natural products, just to get the stankiness to relent – NO MORE!

I'll admit that I still do get sweaty; I'm an au natural girl of course, so I don't wear anti-perspirants. Just the all-natural ones, free from parabens and aluminum. Sweating is healthy, natural and important for your body's temperature regulation and elimination processes. But stink plus sweat equals BUMMER! Using zinc has taken me to an entire new realm of non-stinkiness, which has changed my life for the better.

You don't have to toss them, just don't buy them again. Buy an empty spray bottle and fill it with vinegar and water. Get fancy with some essential oils or lemon peels for a naturally scented version. Clean the toilet with a shot of liquid soap and baking soda, spray your counters with vinegar and clean the tub with baking soda, liquid soap and vinegar.

It's simple, cheaper, and better for your families health as household cleansers are airborne cancer causing concoctions, made by a companies that think you'll never know the difference. Natural home cleaning is also better for the environment, as all of this crap goes into the water supply, after all.

What in that Formula 409, CAN'T be removed with water treatment? What is cancer causing in windex or bleach sprays that you inhale with every breath and each spray? Companies don't make products that people don't buy.

Let's commit to voting with our dollars and our ideals. Together we have power. Once we know better we must do better.

A picture says a thousand words and this one says Mmmmmm, Yummy and Scrumptious just for starters ...

I took a paleo recipe and tweaked it by adding another egg and a bit of canned organic pumpkin. That's all I did to modify and it turned out SO much better than the original paleo one I tried. The original paleo recipe didn't have this lovely thick cakey tecture, nor did it scoop out of the pan as easily which is always a bummer!

I had to share this little gem with you guys:) You WON'T be disappointed. Even my super picky betty crocker loving husband liked this one.

1/2 cup raw almond butter

1/2 cup canned organic pumpkin (almost Paleo)

1 cup shredded zucchini

2 eggs

2 packages (of the small 3 count) melted trader joes brand dark chocolate bars (not quite Paleo as it has some sugar) this ends up being about 1 cup worth of dark chocolate

1/3 cup local honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 and mix everything together well. Put it in a (butter greased) 9x9 or a 9x17 (or whatever size that pan was i used). Put it in the oven for 35-45 minutes until the toothpicks come out clean!

Cool for 15 minutes and slice it up with a sharp knife and scoop with a fork!Enjoy!